Table 1. Steroid Hormone-Associated Changes in GABA_AR Subunit Expression and Function.

Western blot analysis was performed on the total hippocampal membrane fraction and probed with an antibody for the GABA_AR δ subunit or the GABA_AR γ2 subunit. Optical density measurements are shown in Table 1 (left; Maguire, 2005 and Maguire, 2008). Altered GABA_AR subunit expression is associated with changes in GABAergic inhibition. The tonic GABAergic inhibition and peak amplitude of sIPSCs recorded in dentate gyrus granule cells is shown in Table 1 (right; Maguire, 2005 and Maguire, 2008).

	δ Expression	γ 2 Expression	Tonic Inhibition	Phasic Inhibition
	Optical Density (a.u.)		Tonic Current (pA)	Peak Amplitude (pA)
Ovarian Cycle
Estrus	0.37 +/- 0.04	0.51 +/- 0.02	29.8 +/- 5.5	90.6 +/- 13.4
Diestrus	0.53 +/- 0.01 *	0.34 +/- 0.01 *	57.6 +/- 10.2 *	114.5 +/- 20.5
Pregnancy
Virgin	0.42 +/- 0.03	0.55 +/- 0.01	39.8 +/- 4.4	76.4 +/- 5.5
Pregnancy	0.28 +/- 0.02 *	0.37 +/- 0.01 *	19.7 +/- 3.6 *	45.4 +/- 3.9 *
Postpartum	0.42 +/- 0.05	0.55 +/- 0.01	40.4 +/- 7.1	69.5 +/- 6.9

^*denotes p < 0.05 using a one-way ANOVA. Estrous cycle and Pregnancy data were analyzed separately, Maguire, 2005 and Maguire, 2008, respectively.